Kampong Speu Provincial Police were searching on Tuesday for a 25-year-old man accused of killing his wife and throwing her body into a well on the mango plantation where they lived, the latest in a string of violent domestic murders across Cambodia.

The mother of Phay Sokkieng found her 20-year-old daughter dead at the bottom of the four-metre well when she went to do laundry on Monday in Samrong Tong district, said Sam Sak, a Kampong Speu police official.

The victim’s mother, Mon Leng, 56, made the discovery a day after police believe the murder took place. Bruising on the victim’s knee and genitals were the only injuries, Sak said.

Police accuse her husband, Math Vuthy, 25, of committing the murder and escaping, and conducted a search in his home province of Pursat.

The couple had been married a year and had no children, according to Kam Krouch Commune Police Chief Hang Touch.

They lived on the isolated plantation and there was a history of domestic violence that came to light only after Leng told police following the murder, he said.

“The married spouse often had arguments and committed domestic violence,” he said.

He said their arguments normally stemmed from “jealousy”, and that the husband refused to let his wife work outside the plantation.

At least 10 other women have been killed in Cambodia since the start of the year in cases attributed to domestic violence.